Terminal Compromise by Winn Schwartau (my reading book .txt) 📖

GOT ANOTHER PRESENT?

Couple of days, sure. Some doosies.

WHAT’YA GOT?

A graphics program that kicks the living shit out of VGA Master

and Paint Man. Deadly too.

HOW?

Copies portions of itself into Video RAM and treats it as a TSR.

Next program you load gets infected from Video RAM and spreads

from there. Undetectable unless you’re running debug at the same

time and looking for it. Then it stealths itself into all V-RAM

applications and spreads outside the O/S.

TRIGGERS?

I forget the exact trigger mechanism, but it gives constant

parity errors. Nothing’ll run.

OK! LOOKIN’ GOOD.

Also have a few Lotus utilities, a couple of games.

THE GAMES ARE GOING GREAT GUNS. WE SHOULD BE SELLING THEM IN THE

STORES.

How many?

AS OF A WEEK AGO, MORE THAN 240,000 PACK-LADIES HAVE BEEN DOWN

LOADED. THAT’S OUR BEST SELLER.

Anyone sending money?

SURPRISINGLY, YES. WE’RE TURNING A PROFIT.

Shit. That’s not what we wanted.

CAN’T KEEP A GOOD PROGRAM DOWN.

Yeah Yeah Yeah. Need some info.

THAT’S OUR MIDDLE NAME. WHAT DO YOU NEED?

You hear about the First Bank hacker?

SURE! I GOT A DOZEN PEOPLE TAKING CREDIT FOR IT.

You’re kidding

NO! IT’S A GOOD ONE. BRING A BANK TO IT’S KNEES. STOP STOCK

TRADING. SEC INVESTIGATION. A LOT OF OUR FOLKS WOULD HAVE BEEN

PROUD.

Was it us?

NO WAY.

Then who, really?

DAMNED IF I KNOW OR CARE.

Care

WHAT? SINCE WHEN DO WE CARE ABOUT THE AMATEURS?

Since now. Things are heating up too soon. I need to know who

pulled the job.

I CAN GET A LOT OF PEOPLE TO ADMIT IT, BUT I CAN’T VERIFY IT.

Whoever did it is not likely to advertise it openly. We may need

to pull him into the open.

GOTCHA

Here’s my thinking. Assume the hack is just a kid. He’s getting

no credit and receives a shitty allowance. So, we offer a re-

ward. Whoever can prove that they are the one’s who broke into

First Bank, we’ll send them a new 386. Whatever, use your imagi-

nation.

THINK HE’LL BITE?

If it’s a pro, no. But this doesn’t ring of a pro. The news-

papers know too much.

AND IF WE FIND HIM?

Just get me his number and shipping address. Make sure he gets

the computer too.

OK BOSS. ANYTHING ELSE?

Keep up the good work. Oh, yeah. I need the estimates.

NO PROBLEM. THEY LOOK GREAT. IN JUST OVER 2 YEARS, WE HAVE

GIVEN AWAY OVER 1,300,000 INFECTED PROGRAMS AND NONE HAVE GONE

OFF YET. ACCORDING TO PLAN.

Love it. Peace.

BYE, YOU MF.

<<<<<>>>>> * Monday, December 7 New York City

The phone on Scott Mason’s desk had been unusually, but grateful-

ly quiet. Higgins had been able to keep the First State lawyers

at bay with the mounds of information the paper had accumulated

on MacMillan’s doings. The bank’s stock was trading again, but

at a dilution of over 75%. Most individual customers had cashed

out their accounts, including Higgins, and only those long term

portfolios remained. Scott’s stories on First Bank had won him

recognition by his peers. No awards, but an accolade at the New

York Journalists Club dinner. Not bad, he thought.

Now the hard work continued for him. The full background analy-

ses, additional proof, more witnesses now that Sidneys was under

Federal indictment and out of work. MacMillan was in trouble,

but it was clear to Scott, that if the heat got turned up too

much, there was a cache of millions offshore for the person with

the right access codes.

His phone rang.

“Scott Mason.”

“Hey, Scott this is Kirk. We gotta talk, I’m in trouble.” Kirk

sounded panicked.

“Damn Klingons,” Scott cracked.

“Seriously, I’m in trouble. You gotta help me out.”

Scott realized this was no prank. “Sure, sure, calm down. What

happened?”

“They found me, and they got into my computer and now it’s

gone . . .shit, I’m in trouble. You gotta help me.”

“Kirk!” Scott shouted. “Kirk, relax, ground yourself. You’re

not making sense. Take it from the beginning.”

Kirk exhaled heavily in Scott’s ear, taking several deep breaths.

“O.K., I’m O.K., but should we be talking on the phone?”

“Hey, you called me . . .,” Scott said with irritation.

“Yeah, I know, but I’m not thinking so good. You’re right, I’ll

call you tonight.”

Click.

*

Nightline was running its closing credits when Scott’s home

computer beeped at him. Though Kirk had not told him when to

expect a call, all other communications had begun precisely at

midnight, so Scott made a reasonable deduction.

The dormant video screen came to life as the first message

appeared.

MASON

That was unlike Kirk to start a conversation that way.

wtfo

ITS ME. KIRK.

Now it was Scott’s turn to be suspicious.

Prove it.

AW CMON

Prove it.

I CALLED YOU TODAY

So did half of the crack pots in New York

I’M IN TROUBLE

So were the others.

OK. WE WENT THROUGH THE BANK AND HAD SOME FUN WITH PRESSED RAT

AND WHARTHOG, INC.

Good enough. You sound as scared here as you did on the phone.

I thought computers didn’t have emotion.

I DO.

OK, what’s up.

THEY FOUND ME

Who?

THE PEOPLE FROM FIRST STATE BANK.

How? What?

I RECEIVED A MESSAGE ON MY COMPUTER, E-MAIL. IT SAID, STAY AWAY

FROM FIRST STATE BANK. YOUR HACKING CAREER IS OVER. OR ELSE.

What did you do?

CALLED A FEW FRIENDS WHO THINK THEY’RE FUNNY.

And?

HONOR AMONG THIEVES. IT WASN’T THEM. SO I FIGURED IT WAS FOR

REAL.

You sure?

AS SURE AS I CAN BE. MY ACTIVITIES ARE SUPPOSED TO BE SECRET.

NO ONE KNOWS. EXCEPT YOU.

And you think I did something.

THE THOUGHT CROSSED MY MIND MORE THAN ONCE, I’LL TELL YOU. BUT, I

THINK I HAVE ELIMINATED YOU

Thanks, Why?

NO MOTIVATION. I’M MORE USE TO YOU ALIVE THAN DEAD.

Excuse me?

AS LONG AS MY IDENTITY AND ACTIVITIES REMAIN SECRET, I’M ALIVE AS

A HACKER AND CAN CONTINUE TO DO WHAT I DO. AS SOON AS I’M FOUND

OUT, IT’S OVER. BUT THAT’S NOT THE PROBLEM.

What is?

I CAME HOME THIS MORNING AND FOUND THAT SOMEONE BROKE IN AND

TRASHED EVERYTHING. COMPUTERS, PRINTERS, MONITORS, THE WHOLE

BALL OF WAX. AND THERE WAS A NOTE.

What did it say?

WE KNOW WHAT YOU’VE DONE. STAY OUT OF OUR COMPUTERS OR YOU WILL

BE SORRY. IT WAS SIGNED FIRST STATE BANK.

That doesn’t make sense.

WHAT DOESN’T

Nobody except terrorists leave their calling card, and then only

when they’re sure they can’t be caught. I would bet dollars to

donuts that First State had nothing to do with it.

ARE YOU SURE?

No, I’m not sure, not 100%, but it doesn’t add up. You’ve

stepped on somebody’s toes, and it may or may not have anything

to do with First State. They’re just trying to scare you.

AND DOING A DAMNED GOOD JOB OF IT

Have you called the police.

NO. NOT YET. I’M NOT IN THE LINE OF WORK THEY PROBABLY APPROVE

OF.

So I see. Who else knew about your trips through the bank, other

than me. I will assume I’m not the guilty party.

A COUPLE OF HACKER FRIENDS, MY GIRLFRIEND, THAT’S ABOUT IT.

No one else?

NOT THAT I CAN THINK OF.

Let me ask you. If you wanted to find out who was hacking where,

how would you find out? Let’s say you wanted to know what your

friends were doing. Is there a way?

NOT WITHOUT A LOT OF EXPENSIVE EQUIPMENT. NO. YOU WOULD HAVE TO

TELL SOMEONE.

And you told no one? No one?

WELL, THERE WAS FREEDOM.

What’s Freedom?

FREEDOM IS A NATIONAL BBS SYSTEM. IT’S FAIRLY NEW.

What do they do?

LIKE MOST BBS’S, IT’S AN OPEN FORUM FOR EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION,

PROGRAMS, ETC. IT IS ONE OF THE LARGEST IN THE COUNTRY. THEY

HAVE BBS AFFILIATES IN 50 OR 60 CITIES. THEY ALSO RUN A SHARE-

WARE SERVICE.

Is that significant?

MOST SHAREWARE COMPANIES SELL THEIR SOFTWARE ON OTHER PEOPLE’S

BBS’S. THE CONCEPT IS SIMPLE. THEY GIVE AWAY THEIR SOFTWARE FOR

FREE. IF YOU LIKE IT, YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO SEND IN A FEW DOLLARS

AS A REGISTRATION, AND THAT’S HOW THEY MAKE MONEY. IT’S PART OF

THE CULTURE, DON’T BECOME RICH ON SOFTWARE. FREEDOM WRITES A

TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF SOFTWARE AND THEY PUT IT ON THEIR OWN AS

WELL AS OTHER BBS’S. IT’S REAL SMART. THEY BASICALLY HAVE THEIR

OWN METHOD TO DISTRIBUTE THEIR SOFTWARE.

Do they make money?

WHO KNOWS. IT LOOKS LIKE A BIG OPERATION. VERY FEW SHAREWARE

PEOPLE MAKE MONEY, AND FREEDOM SAYS ITS NON-PROFIT.

Non-Profit did you say? Are you sure?

THAT’S WHAT THEY SAY.

What’s their number?

I ONLY HAVE THE LA NUMBER.

So you are from the Coast.

SHIT. YEAH. I’M FROM THE COAST.

That was an accident. I really don’t care.

I KNOW. IT MAY NOT MATTER. I MAY GIVE IT UP. I DON’T NEED MY

COMPUTERS BEING BLOWN TO SMITHERINES TO TELL ME I’M BARKING UP

THE WRONG TREE.

Maybe it is the right tree.

WHAT?

Never mind. So, you said you told them?

WELL, KIND OF. YOU SEE, THEY ARE VERY MUCH AGAINST HACKING.

THEY ALWAYS TALK ABOUT PROSECUTING HACKERS, HOW BAD WE ARE.

AFTER THE FIRST STATE ARTICLES YOU WROTE, A LOT OF PEOPLE ON THE

CHAT LINE CLAIMED TO HAVE DONE THE JOB. NOT THAT WE REALLY DID

ANYTHING. WE JUST LOOKED AROUND. ALL THESE GUYS